Garden of Bones
"Garden of Bones" is the fourth episode of the second season of Game of Thrones. It is the fourteenth episode of the series overall. It premiered on April 22, 2012.HBO schedule for the week beginning April 16, 2012 It was written by co-executive producer Vanessa Taylor and directed by David Petrarca. Plot Synopsis l Recap The Northern army under King Robb Stark leads a surprise night-time assault against an encamped Lannister army, with his direwolf Grey Wind causing a large amount of damage. The Battle of Oxcross is a smashing victory, following through on Robb's promise to give Queen Cersei "another Whispering Wood". The next day Robb surveys the battlefield, as his bannerman Lord Roose Bolton of the Dreadfort argues that they should kill all of the Lannister soldiers they took prisoner, because they're having trouble enough supplying their own army and prisoners will only slow them down. Robb disagrees, saying they will fight honorably and follow the laws of war. Robb helps a nurse saw off the leg of a wounded Lannister soldier. The nurse, who introduces herself as Talisa of Volantis, criticizes Robb for not having a replacement king to take the throne if they defeat Joffrey (having declared for neither of the Baratheon brothers). She points out that for all the bloodshed they've caused, he isn't pursuing a plan to decisively defeat Tywin Lannister, just bleeding his secondary armies. The men they slaughtered weren't Tywin's main army but green boys and conscripts from the Westerlands who didn't ask for any of this. Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish arrives at King Renly Baratheon's camp as a political envoy from King Joffrey Baratheon at King's Landing. He tries to gain Renly's trust by implying that if Renly does march on the capital, he will help take down the Lannisters from within (it is unclear if he is lying, but he is also ready to jump ship if the Lannisters lose). Littlefinger then has a conversation with Queen Margaery Tyrell in which he tries to intimidate her by hinting that her husband is a homosexual. He does not anticipate that Margaery seems to already know and not to care. Margaery is not a naive ingenue like Sansa Stark but versed in court strategies: she honestly believes that Renly is the best candidate for king, and voluntarily entered into a paper marriage to secure the political alliance between Renly and House Tyrell. Baelish then moves on to meeting with Catelyn Stark, who is upset at his betrayal of her husband to his death. Baelish presents Tyrion's offer that the Lannisters want to make a prisoner exchange with the Starks: if they release Jaime Lannister, Queen Cersei will release both Sansa Stark and Arya Stark (about which Baelish lies that they still have Arya). Catelyn insists that Robb would never allow the exchange but Littlefinger tries to manipulate her love for her imprisoned daughters. As a show of good faith from Tyrion, Baelish brings forward a pair of Silent Sisters carrying a box containing the returned bones of Ned Stark. Notes *Oona Chaplain's character was previously announced as Jeyne Westerling, a major character from the books. In this episode, she introduces herself as "Talia": this wouldn't be the first time that character names were changed on the show, i.e. how "Asha Greyjoy" was renamed "Yara Greyjoy" to avoid confusion with Osha the wilding. Author George R.R. Martin intentionally gave several characters in the books the same given names, To reflect that in real-life, a large cast of people from across an entire continent would logically have some repeated names. Both "Jeyne Poole" and "Jeyne Westerling" are major recurring characters in the books, so the TV series may have chosen to rename her just to avoid confusion. However, "Lissa" goes on to say that she is from the Free City of Volantis, while Jeyne Westerling is actually a member of House Westerling, minor nobles from the Westerlands sworn to House Lannister. Most of Jeyne's subplot happens "off-screen" in the books and many of these scenes are an invention of the TV show: it is possible that "Lissa" is lying about who she is, because she doesn't want Robb to know that she's a member of the Westerlands' minor nobility and a potential political hostage. *One of Robb Stark's lieutenants said that five Lannister soldiers died for every one of theirs in the Battle of Oxcross. In the books, hardly any Stark soldiers died, and it was more of one-sided massacre of 10,000 green Lannister conscripts taken by surprise. **One of the Lannister generals in the Season One finale argued that their current strategy should be to try to use Tywin's surviving army to hold off Robb while they raise new conscripts in the Westerlands. Now that Robb has slaughtered this raw new army group, the Westerlands are wide open to his assaults. *In the books, Tyrion did suggest setting up Joffrey with some prostitutes to try to divert his attention from Sansa, and possibly even make Joffrey grateful for the favor. The actual results of this weren't shown, but ordering one prostitute to beat another unconscious at crossbow-point for his own amusement is in keeping with Joffrey's penchant for sadistic gratification. D.B. Weiss points out in the behind-the-scenes featurettes that Joffrey doesn't do this out of just blind rage but because he wants to send a message to his uncle Tyrion, though it still shows the depths of cruelty that Joffrey is capable of. **Joffrey's ordering the Kingsguard to beat and ultimately strip Sansa in front of the entire courtroom is not an invention of the TV show. Indeed, it is somewhat toned down from the book version. *Xaro Xhoan Daxos of Qarth is not black in the book series: the TV series explains this by stating that he is from the Summer Islands, which are off the shore of Sothoryos (essentially this fantasy-world's equivalent of Africa). It is actually not unusual for dark-skinned people to be seen in the locations of Essos, either as slaves or descendants of freed slaves who have risen to become soldiers, pirates, or powerful lords and merchant princes. Therefore, it isn't particularly implausible for a Summer Islander to become a leader of a merchant guild in Qarth. *Daenerys pronounces the city's name as "Qu'arth" and one of the Qarth officials angrily corrects her that it is pronounced "'K'arth". This may be a shout-out to fans of the books: author George R.R. Martin has notoriously not given a comprehensive pronunciation guide to the proper nouns appearing in the ''A Song of Ice and Fire series, resulting in many fans being surprised when various pronunciations which Martin and the TV series officially use are different from how they assumed they are pronounced. *This episode introduces Roose Bolton, head of House Bolton and lord of the Dreadfort in the North. *The TV series has truncated several of the movements of Robb Stark's army in the overall war. In the books, the combined forces of the North and Riverlands serving King Robb are divided into two main army groups: the main cavalry group personally led by Robb in the west, and the main infantry group led by Roose Bolton in the east. The TV series changed it so that the Battle of the Green Fork in Season One was a feint in which the entire force of 2,000 Northmen were killed. In the books, the attack was a feint and they did lose men, but Roose Bolton then retreated in good order. Functionally this also means that Roose Bolton never directly interacted with Robb Stark while their armies were in the field. **This does not necessarily remove the possibility that Robb will order Roose to take his contingent east later this season; the TV creators may have just wanted to establish Robb interacting with Roose before separating them for over a season. *Doreah, the slave girl from Lys that was supposed to instruct Daenerys in pleasing a man, has survived to reach Qarth. In the books, she died in the Red Waste due to a combination of disease and exhaustion, and was personally buried by Daenerys. The TV creators apparently liked her performance enough that they've decided to keep her alive. In the books, Daenerys' other two handmaidens Irri and Jhiqui act as a pair and support Daenerys through her travels. Jhiqui has been drastically truncated in the TV series, to the point that that original Irri/Jhiqui duo seems to be replaced by an Irri/Doreah pairing. **Conversely, Rakharo died crossing the Red Waste in the TV series, but lived in the books. Characters Characters First appearances * Talisa * Xaro Xhoan Daxos * Pyat Pree * The Spice King * Tickler Deaths Cast '''Starring *Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister *Michelle Fairley as Lady Catelyn Stark *Emilia Clarke as Khaleesi Daenerys Targaryen *Aidan Gillen as Lord Petyr Baelish *Iain Glen as Ser Jorah Mormont *Charles Dance as Lord Tywin Lannister *Liam Cunningham as Ser Davos Seaworth *Jack Gleeson as King Joffrey Baratheon *Richard Madden as King Robb Stark *Sophie Turner as Princess Sansa Stark *Maisie Williams as Princess Arya Stark *Stephen Dillane as King Stannis Baratheon *Carice van Houten as Melisandre *Natalie Dormer as Queen Margaery Tyrell *Jerome Flynn as Bronn *Rory McCann as Sandor Clegane Guest starring *Gethin Anthony as King Renly Baratheon *Nicholas Blane as the Spice King *Nonso Anozie as Xaro Xhoan Daxos *Michael McElhatton as Roose Bolton *Joe Dempsie as Gendry *Eugene Simon as Ser Lancel Lannister *Oona Chaplin as Talisa *Gwendoline Christie as Brienne of Tarth *Ian Hanmore as Pyat Pree *Roxanne McKee as Doreah *Amrita Acharia as Irri *Steven Cole as Kovarro *Ben Hawkey as Hot Pie *Finn Jones as Ser Loras Tyrell *Esme Bianco as Ros *Ian Whyte as Ser Gregor Clegane *Ian Beattie as Ser Meryn Trant *Tony Way as Ser Dontos Hollard *Anthony Morris as the Tickler *Sam Mackay as a Lannister Guard *David Fynn as Rennick *Andy Kellegher as Polliver *Maisie Dee as Daisy *Gina Moxley as a female Lannister prisoner *Fintan McKeown as Ser Amory Lorch *Emmett O'Riabhaigh as a Wounded Lannister *Donal Gallery as a male Lannister prisoner *Slavko Juraga as a Member of the Thirteen Uncredited *Paul Kealyn as Weasel Image gallery Catelyn-stark-michelle-fairley-helen-sloan.jpeg|Catelyn Stark in "Garden of Bones". Melisandre and Stannis.jpg|Melisandre and Stannis Baratheon in "Garden of Bones". Sansa 204.jpg|Sansa Stark in "Garden of Bones". Renly-baratheon-gethin-anthony-helen-sloan.jpeg|Renly Baratheon in "Garden of Bones". Brienne.jpg|Brienne of Tarth in "Garden of Bones". Davos Seaworth2.jpg|Ser Davos Seaworth in "Garden of Bones". Promotional video Video:Game of Thrones 2x04 - "Garden of Bones" Promo (HD)|Episode 14 preview Video:Game Of Thrones Season 2 The Story So Far (Episodes 11-13)|The Story So Far (Episodes 11-13) Video:Game Of Thrones Season 2 Recap 13|Episode 13 recap Notes References Category:Season 2 Category:Season 2 Episodes